What Zumba is to Me.

I remember a few years ago, my sister Jana was telling me "You have to go try a Zumba class. You'd love it. Its working out but its, like, FUN." I had never heard of it but I just assumed it was just like going salsa dancing. Which isn't my cup of tea. I went on a date once salsa dancing and I guess in that culture you are supposed to have intense eye contact, which immediately creeped me out.

I never liked chocolate/sweets that much, until I gave birth to Kaius! I guess! I turned into a baking machine. I blame Pioneer Woman, but also would kiss her feet if I met her.

A few friends of mine started a facebook group called "Facebook Biggest Loser". The person to lose the most weight won all the $, it was $20 per person. Well, there were a lot of people who wanted to just do it for free and not for the monetary reward, myself included. I didn't want to temporarily diet with the incentive of money, I wanted to make a lifestyle change (but really, I'm a big cheapwad). ((However, I guess due to not enough people paying, they cancelled the whole thing...Oh well! I was making a change by myself.))
So, I got a gym membership, I started going in the mornings before everyone was up.
It made me feel good that I was doing something...but I would run 2 minutes and have to walk the rest of the half hour. I had never been in that bad of shape!

They had a new Zumba class starting. I showed up, there were lots of ladies there. I just kinda inched my way into the back area. I just looked around at the girls there and said "Am I ok here? I've never done this before." and there was little miss Lisa,who had never done it before either, she was nice. Then, Cammie graced the stage. I remember all throughout the class, Lisa and I kept saying to each other "This is so fun!". I definitely didn't have the stamina to make it through a class, I remember just stopping and standing a few times to catch my breath. At the end we were saying how we couldn't wait for the next one. I casually mentioned to Lisa that I'd love to be up there someday. The next class she asked me if I was going to become and instructor. I was like psh...maybe in a few years?

I enjoyed Cammie's classes because I could TELL she was having the TIME OF HER LIFE. I looked up her Zumba profile and added her on Facebook. I thought she looked like a nice, fun person. Since I just moved to a new area, I thought "what if she and I became friends?"


I would email her messages every once in a while and tell her how awesome she was. She kept things very business and polite. A few months later, she invited me to a "Zumbathon"



and I said, "you say its Zumba and I come running!" so we carpooled together with some friends, and invited them all over for dinner. I served the best sandwich ever,



and I'm pretty sure that's why they all liked me after that :)



I find myself thinking a lot that I think Zumba was made specifically for me. If you know me, you know I LOVE color. Zumba clothes are the most colorful clothes with the coolest, funkiest color combinations. I love that I get the chance to miss my kids. I love the friends that I meet at classes. I love that I'm passionate about Zumba and I am actually having people come to my classes!

If you'd like to come I would love to have you!


1164 South Main Street

Mondays - 8:30 PM
Thursdays - 8 PM
Saturdays - 10 AM

$5 a class or $40 for a 10 class punch pass.

My Instructor training with Gina Grant was awesome. Ok, some of it was awesome. Most of it was going over the steps, how to do Cumbia, Merengue, etc. I used to sit and wait for Cammie at the end of each class, and I've heard many people ask her to break down moves for them. And what shoes are best, etc etc...
So as soon as I heard what each move was formally called what, the rest was pretty much boring. She had to keep going over the moves and I definitely wasn't back in tip top shape yet. I was so so SO mentally and physically drained when there was about an hour left of the training. Me and this other guy Josh were like...basket cases. He said his brains felt like mashed potatoes.

And he said somethin...about pouring gravy on his head. I dont remember exactly. I had been trying to be really awesome when I knew Gina was looking at me, but towards the end she pointed at me and made the yawning motion with her hand.
Well, sh*%.
I nodded back to her. I stopped pretending after that.
But I wasn't too tired for a photo with her!


Then on the way home Jana started feeling like me. We got in her car after our carpool dropped us off and she couldn't even turn the key properly, and didn't know what direction she was driving, haha. We got back to her house and made her husband make us food :).

Long Update.

So 30 days of blogging. It didn't improve my lameness so I decided it dies.

Kaius has been my toy-fetching, diaper fetching, chap stick-eating little man. Still cute as ever. Monroe is almost sitting up, and loves interesting toys. And gets bored easily. She is my little ray of sunshine. And they are NEVER asleep at the same time. Sometimes not even at night.

So, about a month ago I walk into relief society, and I catch someone's eye from across the room...its Melissa, one of my best friends from High School (in Cali)!!!!



I immediately go sit next to her and we embrace (lol, yup, in the middle of the lesson.) We haven't seen each other in over 3 years so we were beside ourselves. It was so hard to keep quiet til the end of the lesson so we could ask each other some questions! She and her fiance were thinking of moving into the ward so they decided to show up! We had them over for dinner right after and caught up. Such a wonderful surprise.

then.
The NEXT week, who do I see new at church? ANOTHER friend/aquaintance from high school (in Cali), Laura Faith (cept she just got married so thats changed).



I stole these from their Facebooks. Cuties.
TWO people that I went to high school in California, not even UT, show up at my ward? it was craziness. So ecstatic about it.


OK, so...I need to blog about my 2 ER experiences.

Last Friday I ask my facebook friends for ear ache remedies. onion oil, garlic oil, breastmilk, vinegar, hydrogen peroxide, alcohol, heat pad, olive oil etc etc...
I tried most of them but it just seemed to get worse. Swimmer's ear is what I had, so putting more weird fluids probably exacerbated the condition. The pain kept me up ALL night. I sat on the couch watching TV and popped IBuprofen...but then at 4 AM the pain would not go away no matter how much I took (I took a max of 800 mg...which is plenty) and I was bawling it hurt so bad. I went to wake josh so I could have him support. Uhm, when Josh is woken out of a dead sleep...he is kind of....not Josh. So for the first 20 minutes he was flipping out.

"HOW MANY PAIN MEDS DID YOU TAKE?!?!?"

"YOU SHOULD HAVE GONE TO BED EARLIER!!!"

yeah.....

Anyway, Josh wanted to call our home teacher, at 5 AM, and have him come be at our house so our kids are home alone. I'm like, NO, I'll just go by myself. So I decided since I'm going to the downtown ER at SL regional, I might as well advertise my zumba classes. So I wore Zumba cargo pants, hot pink chucks, and my Zumba hoodie.

Clue #1...I am a basket case.



At the ER, I demand morphine (thats what they gave me at the ER in california when my sister took me for the flu, best day ever) and they said NO, because I drove myself. (remember that key point)

So the doc asks me if I would like an IV of the start of my antibiotics or would i like to just go home with pills. I told him my main goal in life at that point was to get some SLEEP. So he said, well just take the pills, if your ear gets worse just come back and we wont charge you for a 2nd visit (lie #1). Then he says he is going to bend the rules and let me take my perkocets at home since I drove myself. Then a nurse walks in with pills and says "Here is some water and pills, please take them now" so, I oblige. But before I swallow the perkocets I say "I havent eaten in like 10 hours...DO I NEED TO TAKE THESE WITH FOOD?"
Nurse: "Nah. Food isn't required. Don't worry about it." (lie #2)
I'm like, alright. gulp.

I sit in the car and call around to pharmacies to see if anyone is open. Hmm, I'm really hungry, I think I'll go to McDonalds.
On the way to McDonalds....I am TRIPPIN OUT. I am paranoid and thinking every car is trying to kill me, but my reaction time is very slow. (Clue #2 I am a basket case)

There is a line at Mcdonalds, by the time I hear "Welcome to McDonalds, may I take your order?" I am STRAIGHT UP: HIGH.



High, by definition: excited or stupefied by or as if by a drug.
I'm like "Uh...er yooo serrving breeckkfessst?" (its 7 AM by this point)
The Mcdonalds worker was like, Um. Yes. (They could totally tell I was high as a kite)
Then they took FOREVER (or it seemed to be) to get me my food. I pulled off to the side, to leave space for other McDonalds consumers to pass. I call Josh.

"Hi. I'M IMPAIRED. I DON'T WANT TO WRECK OUR NEW CAR."
"Uh, please pull over"
"I YAM PULLED OVER. I'M IN THE MgDONALDS DRIVE THRU. I CAN'T DRIVE HOME. I CAN'T. I DONT WANT TO WRECK OUR NEW CAR, YOUR NOT SUPPOSED TO DRIVE WHILE IMPAIRED."
"ok, just wait there."
I tried eating some food, but I was so sick to my stomach I couldn't eat more than one bite. My ear pain is temporarily gone so my body shuts down. I'm am awakened by my phone and Josh said a member of the bishopric is coming to get me, and a bunch of other crap but I was like...GOTTA GO, and I opened up the car door and tossed my cookies. Fell asleep again.

I am jolted awake by a member of said bishopric by a tap on my window. He took me to a few pharmacies to find an open one, I don't remember the conversations we had, but I'm pretty sure everyone witnessing me throwing up (dry heeving) on the street at each pharmacy thought I partied pretty hard that night.




He took me home and I crashed for about 6 hours straight (at which point Josh((not knowing of any of my throwing up)) updated my FB status that all was well and I was going to sleep for 3 days). Josh waking me to give me antibiotics whenever he was supposed to. When I woke up finally for longer than 3 seconds to drink down a pill, I threw all the water and medicine up. Long story short, I couldn't eat or drink anything so I ended back up in the ER to get an anti-nausea (I only went BACK to the ER because the dumb doc said I wouldnt be charged)




Don't get me started on errors on medical bills. But, the record still stands, I've never had a medical bill since I've been married be a correct bill.

I was basically a useless pile of nothing the next few days. Josh cleaned the WHOLE house and I didn't even notice. Various members of the ward took Kaius while Josh went to work and I'm sure he just had a blast. They brought us the sacrament at home. I received a priesthood blessing (THAT, I do remember. It felt so cool to feel the spirit so strong during the prayer) At church yesterday I was so surprised at how many people had heard about my sickness and wanted to know if I was OK...I've never felt so loved! People care about me! :) Such an awesome support system. We would have been in serious trouble without everyone's help.